Brandon High football coach Brad Peterson, also the school's athletic director, was driving near downtown Brandon on Tuesday morning, checking on students and assessing the damage from a powerful tornado that touched down near the city's center on Monday evening.

He stopped at the home of Desiruth Nelson, one of Brandon's softball players.

"There were some trees blocking the house," Peterson said.

So he rounded up some of his own football players — an estimated 20 — to help.

And then he went to Twitter.

"I need help at one of our softball players house moving a tree so they can get in," Peterson wrote.

He provided the address and additional help soon arrived.

"Four more football players and three administrators showed up," Peterson added. "They came on with power saws, and we got it knocked out.

"That's the power of Twitter."

Helping a family member

Pearl running back Jordan Wright huddled in the bathroom with his sister and mother.

They were in Brandon, where one of the tornadoes touched down Monday. Fortunately, they were fine. But they wondered about their grandmother, who lives in Pearson, a section of Pearl that was in the tornado's path.

"We checked on her later that night," Wright said. "You don't know how happy I was to see that she was OK."

A tree fell through the ceiling of her home, but she took cover in a closet and was safe.

On Tuesday morning, Wright, one of the state's top running back prospects, missed his first class to help move his grandmother's belongings out of her house and to their cousin's place. Debris and uprooted trees blocked the street to his grandmother's but Wright managed to get her moved out.

This weekend, Wright plans to clean up and cut some of the trees that litter her backyard.

"My grandmother was actually happy about the situation," Wright said. "She was really happy she was OK and how blessed she was that everyone was OK."

— Chris Thomas and Ros Dumlao, staff writers

'The power of Twitter'

It started with a single tweet.

Brandon High football coach Brad Peterson, also the school's athletic director, was driving near downtown Brandon on Tuesday morning, checking on students and assessing the damage from a powerful tornado that touched down near the city's center on Monday evening.

He stopped at the home of Desiruth Nelson, one of Brandon's softball players.

"There were some trees blocking the house," Peterson said.

So he rounded up some of his own football players — an estimated 20 — to help.

And then he went to Twitter.

"I need help at one of our softball players house moving a tree so they can get in," Peterson wrote.

He provided the address and additional help soon arrived.

"Four more football players and three administrators showed up," Peterson added. "They came on with power saws, and we got it knocked out.

"That's the power of Twitter."

Helping a family member

Pearl running back Jordan Wright huddled in the bathroom with his sister and mother.

They were in Brandon, where one of the tornadoes touched down Monday. Fortunately, they were fine. But they wondered about their grandmother, who lives in Pearson, a section of Pearl that was in the tornado's path.

"We checked on her later that night," Wright said. "You don't know how happy I was to see that she was OK."

A tree fell through the ceiling of her home, but she took cover in a closet and was safe.

On Tuesday morning, Wright, one of the state's top running back prospects, missed his first class to help move his grandmother's belongings out of her house and to their cousin's place. Debris and uprooted trees blocked the street to his grandmother's but Wright managed to get her moved out.

This weekend, Wright plans to clean up and cut some of the trees that litter her backyard.

"My grandmother was actually happy about the situation," Wright said. "She was really happy she was OK and how blessed she was that everyone was OK."